Collectivistic Cultural Values Research Articles

Personal and family perfectionism of Taiwanese college students: Relationships with depression, self‐esteem, achievement motivation, and academic grades

An increasing number of perfectionism studies have been conducted across different countries outside of the Western framework. Using an international egalitarian approach that adopts indigenous frameworks and concepts from the cultural context of the population studied is imperative. This study examines different groups of perfectionists with a sample of 348 Taiwanese college students, emphasizing the collectivistic culture. In particular, this is a follow-up study to further explore characteristics of a group with low standards/high discrepancy--a feeling that they are not good enough despite having low standards--found in a previous study with Taiwanese students. More specifically, this study investigates whether the source of the high discrepancy scores among this group is related to having higher perfectionistic standards from their family. Perfectionism was examined not only from a personal/individualistic perspective, but also from a familistic dimension to reflect Taiwanese collectivistic cultural values. Results partially supported the hypotheses--this group reported having higher family discrepancy, but not family standards, than nonperfectionists. However, this group of participants reported lower academic grades, which implies the possibility of their discrepancy being associated with poorer performance. Four cluster groups--adaptive perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, nonperfectionists, and those with low standards/high discrepancy--were compared on their levels of depression, self-esteem, achievement motivation, and academic grades. Maladaptive perfectionists reported the highest depression level, while adaptive perfectionists reported the highest self-esteem. Results also show that aspects of personal perfectionism and family perfectionism related to self-esteem differently among this sample. Findings and implications are discussed with consideration of the collectivistic cultural context in Taiwan.

Reciprocal Associations Between Connectedness and Autonomy Among Korean Adolescents: Compatible or Antithetical?

The primary goal of this study was to examine the longitudinal reciprocal relationships between connectedness to parents and autonomy among Korean adolescents using five annual waves of the Korea Youth Panel Survey. The sample consisted of 3,449 adolescents, whose mean age was 13.79 years at Wave 1. Contrary to the mainstream findings in individualistic societies that autonomy is not necessarily inimical to connectedness to parents, the present study convincingly suggested that Korean adolescents' pursuit of autonomy might conflict with the maintenance of connectedness with their parents. Similarly, unlike most studies conducted in Western countries, Korean adolescents' maintenance of connectedness with their parents was likely to undermine the attainment of autonomy. Results are discussed in terms of collectivistic cultural values emphasizing the developmental pathway of interdependence instead of the development of autonomy within the cultural context of Korea.

Affective interdependence in married couples' daily lives: are there cultural differences in partner effects of anger?

The experience of anger in close relationships can be detrimental. Existing research suggests cultural differences in how people deal with negative emotions. In particular, anger seems to play a more disruptive interpersonal role in cultures where collectivistic cultural values are strongly endorsed. Our goal was to examine whether differences in the interpersonal contingencies of anger across contexts and persons were linked to the endorsement of collectivistic values. We examined this possibility using electronic diary data, collected multiple times per day over the course of a week. Data were collected from 623 couples in eight cultural contexts. We performed dyadic multilevel analyses to examine partner effects of anger on experienced anger and depressed mood the next day, and whether these effects were moderated by cultural context and by the endorsement of collectivistic values. Results suggested that cultural differences existed. We found partner effects of anger in couples from more collectivistic...

Culture-gene coevolution of individualism-collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene.

Culture–gene coevolutionary theory posits that cultural values have evolved, are adaptive and influence the social and physical environments under which genetic selection operates. Here, we examined the association between cultural values of individualism–collectivism and allelic frequency of the serotonin transporter functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) as well as the role this culture–gene association may play in explaining global variability in prevalence of pathogens and affective disorders. We found evidence that collectivistic cultures were significantly more likely to comprise individuals carrying the short (S) allele of the 5-HTTLPR across 29 nations. Results further show that historical pathogen prevalence predicts cultural variability in individualism–collectivism owing to genetic selection of the S allele. Additionally, cultural values and frequency of S allele carriers negatively predict global prevalence of anxiety and mood disorder. Finally, mediation analyses further indicate that increased frequency of S allele carriers predicted decreased anxiety and mood disorder prevalence owing to increased collectivistic cultural values. Taken together, our findings suggest culture–gene coevolution between allelic frequency of 5-HTTLPR and cultural values of individualism–collectivism and support the notion that cultural values buffer genetically susceptible populations from increased prevalence of affective disorders. Implications of the current findings for understanding culture–gene coevolution of human brain and behaviour as well as how this coevolutionary process may contribute to global variation in pathogen prevalence and epidemiology of affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are discussed.

Financial Abuse in Elderly Korean Immigrants: Mixed Analysis of the Role of Culture on Perception and Help-Seeking Intention

This study aims to evaluate how elderly Korean immigrants perceive and respond to a hypothetical incident of financial abuse on the basis of their cultural background. By using a quota sampling strategy, 124 elderly Korean immigrants were recruited. A mixed-method approach was employed to explore the role of culture on elderly immigrants' view of financial abuse and the construct of independent and interdependent self-construal was adopted to theoretically guide the study. Mixed-method analysis confirmed considerable influence of culture, particularly in responding to the abusive situation. Although the vast majority of the elders (92%) perceived financial abuse as elder mistreatment, only two-thirds (64%) intended to seek help. Five major themes for not seeking help were produced. These are: (a) issues related to family problems, (b) tolerance of the abuse, (c) shame, (d) victim blame, and (e) mistrust toward third party intervention. A series of binary logistic regressions revealed (a) a lower likelihood of seeking formal types of help with those who had higher level of adherence to traditional values and (b) the profile of vulnerable elderly Koreans who are at higher risk of being financially abused: male and less educated. This article also discusses implications for social work practice and elder mistreatment policy, particularly focusing on how to work with elderly Korean immigrants who are vulnerable to this problem and who tend to use collectivistic cultural values in responding to financial abuse.

A Cross-Cultural Validation of Perceived Locus of Causality Scale in Physical Education Context

We examined the validity of the factor structure and invariance of the Perceived Locus of Causality (PLOC) scale instrument scores across two nations endorsing collectivist (Singapore) and individualist (Great Britain) cultural values. Results indicated that confirmatory factor analytic models of the PLOC exhibited adequate ft according to multiple criteria within each sample and across samples. There was invariance in the item-intercepts across the two cultures. In addition, the simplex-like pattern of relations among the PLOC constructs was confirmed within cultures and in invariance analyses. Finally, latent factor means analysis revealed that the British participants tended to rate less self-determined forms of motivation lower than and more self-determined forms of motivation higher than the Singaporean participants.

Does culture affect evaluation expressions?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look at product reviews from a cross‐cultural perspective. Product reviews are potentially an influential form of marketing communication, as well as a predictor of sales performance. With Hofstede's typology as a backdrop, the basic proposition of this study is that collectivistic cultural values place more emphasis on giving face to others, even in impersonal social environments, resulting in them giving more positive product reviews than their individualistic counterparts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses content analysis of Chinese and American computer game reviews to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that Chinese reviews use fewer negative comments and give higher final ratings for the same set of products than their American counterparts. In addition, Chinese reviews showed a lower consistency between their evaluative comments and their final ratings. Also confirmed is a common belief that final ratings are a summary of the evaluative comments of the review‐texts.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research is invited.Practical implicationsTheoretically, the study refines the understanding of differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Practically, it is suggested that if consumers' cultural values are reflected in product reviews, international marketers should weigh and balance possible cultural bias when they decode evaluations of their products from reviews published in other countries' media.Originality/valueProduct reviews are a rich but ignored resource with high marketing value. It is hoped that the study can stimulate both marketing researchers and practitioners to make better use of product reviews to further understand marketing phenomena and make better marketing decisions.

Culturally competent recreation therapy: Individualism and collectivism

To provide effective recreational therapy for clients who have collectivistic cultural values and beliefs, recreational therapists need to recognize cultural differences and understand how each cultural background affects a client’s health beliefs and behaviors. The goal of this article is to examine different cultural perspectives to improve cultural competence of recreational therapists to provide more effective recreation programs for clients who have collectivistic cultural values and beliefs. This article represents three basic different frameworks: the meaning of self; cultural meanings of happiness; and the relationship between therapists and clients.

Suicide Risk Assessment With Asian American College Students

Scholars have based their understanding of college-student suicide in the United States largely on the study of European Americans, and therefore, its relevance to making culturally informed decisions with suicidal Asian American college students is unclear. This article explores aspects of suicide assessment potentially unique to Asian American college students and discusses possible ways to handle the process of breaking confidentiality that are more sensitive to Asian American needs. First, the authors briefly review issues of confidentiality, informed consent, and standards of care. Second, they examine several aspects of Asian American college students' experiences in the United States and of Asian cultural values. Specifically, the authors review acculturation and the experience of immigration, intergenerational relationships, collectivistic cultural values, the myth of the “model minority,” and perfectionism. Third, they offer culturally informed considerations for assessing suicidal risk and ways to manage breaking confidentiality. Finally, they suggest the Collaborative Assess-ment and Management of Suicidality model and the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory−2 as potentially useful tools for culturally sensitive work with Asian American college students.

Personality, Organizational Culture, and Cooperation: Evidence from a Business Simulation

We thank the Center for Creative Leadership, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and the University of California's Haas School of Business and Institute of Personality and Social Research for financial support; Dave Caldwell, Ben Hermalin, Chris McCusker, Barry O'Neill, Charles O'Reilly, Jeff Polzer, Brent Roberts, and Tom Tyler for comments on earlier drafts of this paper; and Rebecca Brown, Mary Cusack, Karen Etty Jehn, Kathy Mozier, Margaret Neale, Jeff Polzer, Barry Staw, and Jonathan Whitney for help with data collection or coding. We are especially grateful to Bob Sutton, three anonymous ASO reviewers, and Linda Pike for their editorial guidance. Deriving predictions from congruence theory, we explored the personal and situational sources of cooperation by contrasting behavior under conditions of personality fit and misfit with culture in an organizational simulation. We assessed MBA students' disposition to cooperate and randomly assigned them to simulated organizations that either emphasized collectivistic or individualistic cultural values. We found that cooperative subjects in collectivistic cultures were rated by coworkers as the most cooperative; they reported working with the greatest number of people, and they had the strongest preferences for evaluating work performance on the basis of contributions to teams rather than individual achievement. Results also showed that cooperative people were more responsive to the individualistic or collectivistic norms characterizing their organization's culture: They exhibited greater differences in their level of cooperative behavior across the two cultures than did individualistic people. We discuss the organizational implications of the conditions influencing behavioral expressions of personal cooperativeness.